Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways

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An in-depth preview of the unseen horror that awaits in Ada's exclusive PS2 side-story.

By Nix

By its end, he still only knows so little of the vast conspiracy he has found himself entangled in. Questions remain, left hanging like the caked blood and carnage strewn from his final encounter. The reason for all of this was in his grasp, in his very hands, but then slipped away from him and sent flying on the wind.

Leon Kennedy may be forever kept in the dark as to the who's and the why's of Resident Evil 4, but game players have the chance to learn more than ever before thanks to an additional side-story added to the PlayStation 2 edition of the breakthrough experience in horror. Five new mini-chapters added to RE4 play out the intertwined tale of the mysterious Ada Wong, with you playing as the femme fatale herself.

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Unlike the added Assignment Ada mini-sequence, these new chapters, titled Separate Ways, are full gaming experiences rather than bonus challenges. Capcom has recorded new dialog and created new FMV and game-engine cinematics to deliver a complete new chapter to tell this missing section of the tale. Gameplay and weapon load-out are complete, and Ada has a few moves of her own that add to her character in ways not seen in Assignment Ada. The new chapters even include one vast environment entirely new to the game to compliment the familiar ground that most of the side-story runs across as Ada and Leon's stories crisscross in their own paticular ways. A number of questions are still left tantalizingly unanswered by Separate Ways -- enough that you almost wonder why Capcom went to the trouble of creating such a colossal new addition (to a game already stuffed with gameplay) for this PS2 release of the game, all just to tease and leave you again wanting more. Whether or not you are given satisfaction of the mind, there's no denying that the opportunity to get closer to this slinky secret mistress is one you will want to snap at.

There are numerous details that we can't and won't spoil for you about the new Separate Ways section of the game. By now, you know some of the little details: you are Ada Wong, playing along in a story that directly parallels the main game. Leon Kennedy knows nothing of what is going on in this decrepit town and its demented citizenry, but Ada knows all, standing garter-deep in the middle of it. Sections of the game will play over ground you have already been through if you have played the main game, but other areas and encounters are entirely unique to Separate Ways.

The familiar sections of the game may be a bit too familiar to some, as much of Separate Ways is made out of pre-established gameplay turf. However, the recycling isn't just a flat retread of old ground. Little details have been tweaked throughout to show the difference in time -- candles in the church, for instance, are not lit at the time that Ada is there. More importantly, with the interlocking story playing out in Ada and Leon's adventure, you get to see a number of areas in ways either in the aftermath of major encounters or else in the very heat of the fire that Leon is about to come into. For instance, Ada begins her section with a mission to ring the churchbell -- the same churchbell that curiously draws away all of the marauding townsfolk just as Leon is about to be overcome and slaughtered. This section the game that was curiously empty in the original game, but you're about to find out why that is as Ada, packing heat and taking no prisoners, encounters an onslaught of enemies that she must clear out if she is to take her place in fate.